Blame
by TMNT-Queen
Summary: It had happened ever since they were kids. He thought he was doing his job. But it was never supposed to end like this. (Rated T for some pretty dark themes.)
1. one

_A/N: Okay, before we get into this, you have to understand that I hold a lot of respect for Master Splinter. I do. But I'm really dealing with some crap right now...crap I'm tired of dealing with. This is my way of coping, I suppose._

 **Blame**

Leo was ten years old the first time it happened.

He and his brothers had been playing hide and seek in the Lair while Splinter was out on a scavenging trip. The rat had left strict instructions for his "eldest" - they were not to leave the Lair. Take care of his brothers. The usual rules. And for a while, all had been fine.

Their home was, for once, completely silent. Each turtle was doing his best to stay hidden from Leo, who had been assigned the role of "it."

And that's how he heard it. A tiny rattle, like glass marbles on the concrete floor, slowly growing louder. Leo glanced around and his eyes widened with horror as he saw his father's favorite vase rocking back and forth on its table - the table that Mikey had tried, and failed, to crawl under. The younger turtle was staring in rapt attention at the vase, which tilted-

-and fell on the ground inches from his head. Somehow, Leo had managed to get across the room within seconds and shove his brother out of the way. Unfortunately, that meant the vase hit _him_ instead. Directly on his left leg. The ten-year-old's expression twisted in pain and he bit his lip to keep from crying out.

Equally unfortunately, Splinter chose that exact moment to re-enter the Lair and discover his bleeding son sitting in a pile of ceramic shards.

"Leonardo! What have you done?" That was...that was real anger in his voice.

"Father, I-"

"I wish to hear no excuses, Leonardo. I have taught you better than this. What example are you setting for your brothers?"

"But I didn't-"

"Enough. Donatello will bandage your leg, and you may explain to him why you are bleeding. Then you will spend the night in your bedroom alone. _Wakarimasuka?"_

"Sensei-"

 _"Wakarimasuka?!"_

Leo blinked back tears and nodded. " _H-Hai, Sensei. Wakarimasu."_

With that, Splinter turned and called for Donnie. Leo took the opportunity to glance at Mikey...or at least, at the spot where Mikey used to be. His heart sank and he wanted to cry in frustration. But he was almost eleven years old now, and Master Splinter would most likely be angrier if he did. So he sucked it up.

Even when Donnie sighed and shook his head. Even when Sensei just gave him a disappointed look and walked away. Even when they others were having fun without him.

He was the big brother. It was his job to look out for them, after all. The fun had to end sometime.

 **TMNT/TMNT/TMNT**

It happened again when they were fourteen. It was the first time that Splinter had ever let them go with him on a scavenging trip.

The younger three had gotten into an argument, which Leo had managed to tune out until precisely three seconds ago - when he'd heard them discussing whether or not Raphael could actually make it upstream against the current of rapidly flowing water next to their group.

"Don't even try it, Raph," he said quietly but firmly.

"Oh yeah, Splinter Junior? What, you gonna try and stop me?"

"No. I said don't do it because you'd never make it."

It was the wrong thing to say.

Leo didn't even have time to breathe before Raph slammed him into the concrete. The brawler's hands were around his neck, and there was white-hot rage in his eyes.

"I'm so sick of your crap!" Raph snarled. "You think I can't do anything! Yeah, like you're _so_ much better than the rest of us. _Splinter said this. Splinter said that._ Get a life, Leonardo. Jeez, do you even have an original thought?"

"Raph, can't...breathe-"

But Raph's hands were tightening of their own accord, without him realizing it. Or maybe he did realize it and just didn't care.

"P-Please-"

Head pounding, lungs straining to drag in oxygen. Leo squeezed his eyes shut and reached out to claw at the vice on his throat. His legs jerked, body bucking upwards just enough to launch his bigger sibling a few feet away.

There was a faint splash and then a strange noise in Leo's ears as he gasped for breath, curling up on his side and wrapping his arms around himself. The noise sounded like screaming.

It sounded like death.

When he came to, he was back in the lab, hooked up to a single IV. There was a blurry form to his right that slowly came into focus.

Leo swallowed - then winced as his ravaged throat protested. "M-Master Splinter," he greeted hoarsely.

"You nearly killed him," Splinter said abruptly, in a voice that was far too collected - like the calm before the storm.

"What?"

"Raphael almost perished, Leonardo. And all because you could not perform the _one simple task_ I had assigned to you. You had to argue with your brother, come to physical confrontation with him, and nearly killed him as a result."

Leo's ears were ringing, his head spinning. "N-No... he's fine. He's fine, Father. I just pushed him away."

And there was the anger. The master ninja leaned forward, close enough to where Leo could see the redness of his eyes. "You shoved him into the river!" he snapped. "He would have drowned had I not realized what happened! Do you not understand?!"

"I-" _Raphael_ _... I almost killed my own brother. Oh, Kraang. I'm gonna be sick._ "F-Father, I-"

 _SLAP!_

The teen jerked at the stinging in his cheek, unable to believe what had just happened. Splinter had... Splinter had hit him. Physically hit him, on purpose, in a fit of rage.

Tears filled his cobalt eyes and he shrank back, cowering under his teacher's gaze.

"I am finished with you," the older mutant spat. "Do not let me see your face again until you can act like the person I raised you to be." And then he was gone.

Leonardo started sobbing.

 **TMNT/TMNT/TMNT**

After that, the blame became more and more frequent. As did the abuse. But he never said anything. Actually, he stopped speaking entirely. Silence meant safety.

And nobody wanted to hear him anyway.

There was nothing for him anymore except training. He took his meals in his bedroom alone, and every other waking moment was spent in the dojo.

Raph called him horrible names. Spat at him. Jeered.

Donnie ignored him. Said it wasn't even worth trying.

Only Mikey even bothered to look at him anymore, and that was only for a few seconds here and there.

Splinter appeared every few days in his bedroom, beat him senseless, and then left again.

So slowly, Leonardo faded into the background. He became little more than a ghost - a ghost that still felt the pain and agony of the world, of a life gone wrong, of a childhood taken away. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve any of this. He didn't know why his own father hated him.

And eventually, he couldn't take the pain anymore.

 **A/N: I have a second part in mind for this...**

 **Look, I know that this will probably concern a lot of people. I'm not in danger - really, I'm not - even though my dad drives me up a wall all the time. I don't know why this got as dark as it did. It just kinda happened. And like I said, I do respect Splinter. The only incarnation I think would be incapable of caring is the 2018 incarnation.**

 **Anyway... I'm just gonna go now.**

 **Please** **review?**


	2. two

**two.**

His heart pounded against his plastron, so loud he was absolutely certain the others could hear it. But they didn't so much as glance at him - not that that was unusual in any way. His brothers - no, _T_ _he Chosen Ones,_ as Splinter had taken to calling them - never looked at him anymore. For all intents and purposes, it was as if he didn't exist.

But then why was this so hard?

Every step he took towards the exit _hurt_. A small bead of sweat rolled down his forehead and he quickly wiped it away before anyone could notice. Right before he reached the turnstiles, he stopped. This was it. A few more feet and he would be free forever.

Leonardo swallowed and tightened his grip on the small duffel he had with him. The bag was full of his possessions, meager as they were - memories of the good days, mostly, along with his weapon cleaning kit, a few days' worth of food and some cash should he need it, and his extra pair of katana. Everything he owned was crammed into that bag. The rest of his life he was leaving behind, including his cellphone, and even the mask he'd worn around his eyes. The strip of blue cloth symbolized honor, and duty, and purpose. It symbolized belonging.

He didn't belong, not anymore. They'd all made that abundantly clear.

The maskless turtle cast his blue gaze around the Lair one last time and took a deep breath. He bounded over the turnstiles in a single, fluid, silent move. Then he was gone.

* * *

The first few hours of Leo's freedom were blissful ones; he had no one to worry about except himself. He had no fear of repercussions dealt by an angry, vengeful father figure.

Leo ran around the city for a while, reveling in the feeling of being on his own. He could run faster, jump farther, and fly higher than ever before. He could be himself for the first time - wholly, completely, freely.

Around four o'clock AM, his adrenaline and energy started to drop. He decided to call it a night and headed for the docks - specifically, to the safehouse he'd crafted for himself long ago, for the times when he couldn't stay at the Lair. It was a place that only he knew, tucked deep into an abandoned warehouse, in the backmost corner office. It was lonely, but it was warm and it was safe and he would be able to stay as long as he liked.

Or at least until he could gather the necessary supplies for his next step.

The mutant made it to his hideout with no trouble at all (and discovered that it was much easier to stay hidden when there was only himself to worry about) and tiredly dumped his bag on the concrete floor. He quickly and eagerly curled up in the mound of blankets and pillows he'd scavenged long ago and fell asleep to the sound of the waves.

 **a/n: it's been a really sucky day for me, and what better way to get those feelings of hurt and anger and sadness out than to write? if i had a way to disappear, i would, too. i guess this is just a way for me to see how it could be...**

 **anyway, none of that makes sense and i've got to go. so um...please leave me a review. i need some encouragement.**

 **-queen**


	3. three

**three.**

Michelangelo jerked awake at the sound of his alarm, reaching out blindly in hopes of turning the infernal device off. He succeeded on the fourth try, then groaned and buried his head back in his pillow. Seven-thirty was too early for anyone to be awake.

The sleepy turtle eventually dragged himself to a sitting position and yawned loudly - then froze. _Something's wrong._

What it was, he had no idea, but his spiritual skills were sharp enough to detect that something had happened. Something major had changed.

Adrenaline thrummed in Mikey's veins and he shot out of bed, sleepiness forgotten. He rushed into the main room, where most of the lights were still off, but he could smell Donatello's coffee brewing in the kitchen, so he knew that at least one of his brothers was up already. Not fully aware, maybe, but at least semi-conscious.

"Something's wrong," Mikey announced to his brainy sibling as he scrambled into the kitchen and slammed his foot into the island. "OW! SONOFA-"

"What's with all th'yelling?" came a slurred, snarky response. Raphael entered the room with a scowl on his face, took one look at his youngest brother who was currently hopping around on one foot while grasping the other in pain, and burst out laughing. "Oh, nice one," the hothead jeered. "He is beauty, he is grace-"

"I WILL PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE IF YOU DON'T SHUT THE HELL UP! OW!"

Donatello remained stoically silent, merely giving his rambunctious siblings a disdainful glance in between sips of coffee. "Too early for this," he decided, standing up and beginning to make his way to his lab.

Mikey noticed the movement and collected himself long enough to hobble into his path. "No, wait, you gotta - ow! - listen to me! There's something really wrong and I don't know what it is."

"Your head's screwed on too tight?" Raph offered innocently - and promptly ignored the dirty look shot his way.

"Guys, seriously. I mean it. Something's not right. I-I've got a Feeling."

Now _that_ snapped Donnie out of his funk. When Michelangelo had a Feeling about something, people ignored it at their own risk. He slowly, deliberately set his mug down on the bar again and turned to face the flushed ninja. "About what?"

"I...I dunno. When I woke up, something felt _off."_ A horrible chill crept down Mikey's neck. "Has anyone seen Dad this morning?"

"He's already in the dojo," Don replied. "Has been since five-thirty."

"Okay." But it wasn't okay, because that knowledge didn't satisfy the Feeling. "We're not under attack or anything, are we? No sensors were tripped last night?"

Raph snorted and crossed his beefy arms, trying not to look as disturbed as he felt. "If we were under attack, I'm pretty sure we'd know, doofus."

"I'll check the sensors just in case," Donatello offered, and quickly pulled up the program on his phone. "No, we're all good here. Nothing's been tripped."

 _So if it's not Dad, and it's not the Lair, then what could it be? What else is there? What else, or..._ "Oh, shit." The freckled turtle turned and ran back the way he'd originally come, tuning out the panicked questions from his brothers. He leapt up the stairs and sprang down the hallway towards the bedrooms. The door at the end of the hall was faded and chipped, long since needing to be repainted, and marked with a single blue line.

It was also locked.

Mikey nearly punched a hole through the sheet metal when he knocked on the door. "Leo? You in there?"

There was no answer.

A strange mix of desperation and cold certainty washed through his veins and he knocked again, more frantically that time. "Leo, c'mon, man. Open up. It's me. It's Mikey."

Still nothing.

At that point, Michelangelo had given up on niceties. His senses were screaming at him, and bile was burning up through his throat, and his vision was tinged black at the edges. He backed up and ran at the old door at full speed. The metal crashed open in a shower of sparks to reveal a perfectly tidy room, a neatly made bed, an empty desk, and...

...and on the floor, right in the center, were three things: an old strip of blue fabric, a dead cellphone, and a note.

The Feeling crashed into the youngest mutant like a tsunami and left him gasping for breath. He felt chilled down to his core as he reached out for the piece of paper and quickly scanned it. He barely heard the others enter the room behind him, and as the full weight of realization gripped him, he stammered out two words.

"He's gone."


	4. four

**Four**

It was six o'clock when Leonardo awoke - years of training and rules had made his internal clock an impeccable timekeeper - but that was fine. That meant he could see the sunrise.

The terrapin wrapped one of his blankets around himself to ward off the cold as he ventured through a small series of doors to the dock at the back of the warehouse. He took a seat against an old pile that had definitely seen better days; the wood was warped and grey, at this point, but it would hold his weight for a little while.

As the minutes ticked by, and the sky slowly lightened from a deep blue-purple to shades of grey, Leo thought about his current situation and everything that led him to this point. His brothers' abandonment. Splinter's abuse. The nights filled with aches and soul-crushing loneliness.

By the time the canopy above him was bursting with red and pink and gold, he had decided on a course of action.

There was one ally that Leo had not lost touch with over the years - and that ally would not turn Leo out in the cold, nor would he ignore or abuse him. That ally's world was filled with people of the turtle's own kind. He could fit in. He could simply _live_ , without fear. Without having to fight to survive.

And if he _was_ off-world, the chances of running into his brothers were slim to none. They wouldn't even notice he was gone.

Mind set on his decision, Leo heaved himself to his feet and started packing his few possessions.

* * *

Twenty short minutes later, the former leader found himself standing in front of a large rock in an empty part of Central Park.

Leo quickly and quietly traced the familiar symbols on the old stone and stepped back as the glowing blue portal swirled open. He took a step forward and hesitated, just long enough to glance around one last time. Cool blue eyes that held a thousand sorrows took in a world that suddenly seemed cold and unfamiliar and wrong. No one loved him. No one would miss him.

Steeled once more in his resolve, Leonardo held his breath before stepping through the portal and into his new life.

If he'd stayed for a moment longer, he would've noticed the highschool field trip taking place a few hundred yards away - and the redheaded teen that had seen everything.


	5. five

_A/N: Warning - language ahead. Just a couple words, but fair warning all the same._

 **Five**

"Are you certain that's everything?"

"Yep! Thanks, Don. You're a lifesaver." April beamed at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek, eliciting a grin in response.

"I wouldn't go that far," the terrapin replied modestly. "It's just physics homework. Once we got past the trickier parts of thermodynamics it was no sweat. Even my brothers could've done it."

"Speaking of your brothers, where was Leo headed yesterday?"

Donnie blinked, thrown off by the sudden change of subject. "Come again?"

The redhead continued, completely oblivious to her friend's confusion. "I mean, I assumed he was headed on a solo mission or something - y'know, with the duffle bag and all - but then I remembered that Splinter doesn't like you guys going solo."

They hadn't informed their friends about their oldest brother's disappearance. Not even their father knew.

"Where did you see him?"

Now it was April's turn to be confused, because there was a dangerous look in Donnie's eye, and he was sitting up straight in his chair, and the full weight of that mahogany gaze was pinned on her. "Um... Central Park, yesterday afternoon. He was standing in front of a huge rock. He had a duffel bag on his back, between his swords, and then this portal opened up on the rock and he went through it."

During the past twenty-four hours, Donatello had been scanning the contents of Leo's cellphone GPS for anything out of the ordinary - not that it would really help locate him, given the fact that the phone was left lying in the abandoned bedroom.

If the brainy turtle was being honest with himself, nothing much had really changed, other than the fact that Leo wasn't in the Lair any longer. They barely saw him anyway...so did it really make that much of a difference if he wasn't in the vicinity of their home?

As soon as that particular thought train crossed his mind, Donnie had banished it, feeling sick to his stomach. Present or not, Leo was still family. So when Mikey had come to him, begging him to try and find their formerly blue-banded counterpart, he readily agreed.

But it looked like they wouldn't be finding Leo in New York anytime soon. By the sound of things, he wasn't even on-world anymore.

"April, what _exactly_ did the portal look like? How did he open it?"

"He traced something on the rock and then a blue portal swirled open. It was like a shimmery light blue color."

"Could you see what was on the other side?"

"No. Donnie, what's this about? Is Leo in trouble?" *****

"I hope not." And despite everything, Donnie's heart was pounding and his mind was spinning and he couldn't help but think that his brother - his _brother_ \- might be lying somewhere, sick, hurt, _dead-_

 _You didn't care before, so why do you care now?_ a tiny voice whispered from somewhere deep inside of him. A huge part of it had to be guilt, because if he had paid attention, if he had really _cared_ about what happened to Leo, then maybe they wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe none of this would've happened.

But he hadn't, and it did.

The brainy turtle blinked his suddenly stinging eyes and hurriedly pulled up one of the many scanners he had on his computer. Running a quick scan of Central Park verified April's information; there was a mystic energy surge yesterday around one o'clock PM. Which meant that Leonardo had been gone for over twenty-four hours.

Donnie scrambled to his feet and shot out of the lab, made a beeline for the kitchen, ignored April's questions. He threw open the curtain that set the kitchen apart from the main room, startling both of his brothers. "Leo's gone."

Raph raised an eye ridge, looking wholly unimpressed. "We know that, genius. Found out from the note, remember?"

"No, it's...you're not listening to me. He's _gone._ As in _off-world_ kind of gone."

The sudden tension in the room was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. "What do you mean, _off-world_?" Mikey asked, his voice tight. Too tight. If Leo had just been somewhere in New York, somewhere that Mikey could've tracked him down somehow, it would've been okay. But...another world? Another dimension? Talk about looking for a needle in a cosmic haystack.

"From what April told me, it sounds like he's in Usagi's world. But we're not going to be able to follow, because the only people who knew the runes to open the portal were Leo and Dad."

"So what?" Raphael scoffed. "Not like we need 'im here." For that, the hotheaded turtle received looks so loaded with venom that he physically withered. "All I'm saying is, he was already a ghost anyway. Nothin's changed, 'cept he's not in his room anymore."

"Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Mikey demanded. "You're literally saying that it's _okay_ that Leo left, that it's _okay_ that he's literally in another dimension, that it's _okay_ that he could be _hurt_ or _captured_ or _worse!_ Gods above, no wonder he didn't want to stay!"

The brawler stood up, then, a challenge in his gaze. "Oh, yeah, like you're some beacon of goodness. Or have you forgotten that _you_ ignored him, too? Don't sit there preachin' to me about how I fucked up and that I'm the reason he's gone when you sat there and did _nothing_ for _five fucking years."_

For some reason, that last jab really ticked Donatello off. "Oh, get a grip, Raphael. If you hadn't tried to _kill him_ then none of this would've happened in the first place!" That did it. The kitchen descended into absolute madness as the three ninja hurled insults and accusations at one another.

And then a voice cut through it all, sharp and strong and brooking no argument. "What is going on in here?" Master Splinter stood rigid as stone in the doorway, April next to him.

Ice coated Donnie's veins and his heart dropped into his stomach. "Sensei. We...w-we, uh..."

 _Careful,_ Raph's amber eyes warned.

"We were just talking. About our latest patrol ideas."

Splinter raised a brow and turned his attention to the youngest. "Is this true, Michelangelo?"

The orange-banded turtle fidgeted, his eyes flicking first to Raph and then to Donnie before settling on their father again. "Y-Yes, Sensei."

"You would not lie to me, would you?"

"N-No, Sensei."

"Especially not if it cost you four hours in the Hashi?"

What did four hours in the Hashi matter if Mikey's oldest brother was completely and totally MIA? Surely Splinter would be able to help track him down, right? "Actually, Sensei, there's something we need to tell you. Leo's missing."

"Missing, you say? Was he kidnapped?"

"No, Sensei, he...he ran away."

Something flickered across the rat's face, so fast that none of his sons had time to process it before it was gone again. "To where?"

"We think he went to Usagi's world," Mikey replied, trying to ignore the bad feeling that was steadily growing in the back of his mind. Something was wrong. Again. But what else could be wrong? They were all aware now of Leo's absence, and soon they'd be on their way to the parallel dimension to retrieve him, so everything should've been kosher.

As his father led the way out of the kitchen, already formulating a plan with Donnie to locate their missing member, Mikey stayed behind and wrapped his arms around himself. April walked over to him, leaned in close, and said, "I've got a really bad feeling about this."

He gaped at her. "You, too? Why?"

"Dunno. It's just that...did you see Splinter's expression change earlier? He looked really, really mad. Scary mad. As in, _I'd hate to be on the receiving end_ kind of mad."

"You don't think he's mad at _Leo,_ do you?"

"...I don't know. I just think we need to keep a really good eye out, make sure nothing happens."

"Right. Thanks, April."

"Sure. And, hey, don't worry. We'll find him."

A small smile made his lips twist upward, but the expression didn't reach his eyes. Somehow, he was seriously doubting their capabilities right about now. Leonardo was many things, but a bad ninja was not one of them.

What if he didn't _want_ to be found?

 **A/N:**

 ***It was at this point that I could _hear_ the Incredibles in my brain. "Either he's in trouble, or he's going to be." That is all.**

 **Also, sorry for the long wait on this update, and sorry for the language.**

 **-Queen**


	6. six

**Six**

As he came around the bend and his little cabin came into view, Usagi Yojimbo smiled to himself. While he enjoyed visiting the Daimyo, it was always nice to return to his own home. There was just something about the place - maybe it was the chimney, from which lazy white smoke normally curled upwards into the blue dome above, or maybe it was the little fish pond that beckoned him to the kind of peace that could be found only in nature. Perhaps it was his little painting nook inside the smallish living room.

With such pleasant thoughts foremost in his mind, the white rabbit hurried the last few yards to his door-

-and stopped short at the sight of the figure that was hunched over in the shade of a nearby elm tree. "Leonardo?"

The turtle looked up at him with tearstained cheeks. "I had nowhere else to go," he whispered, and his friend's heart broke for him. "I know I'm intruding, but-"

"You are always welcome here," Usagi declared firmly. "Always."

* * *

After coaxing the obviously exhausted ninja into bed, Usagi sat back against the wall and frowned to himself. Leo's sudden and unexpected appearance in this dimension, while always welcome, was troubling. Something must have gone terribly wrong - and judging by his physical and mental state, whatever had happened hit pretty close to home.

But now was not the time for questions. Now was the time for healing. It would be at least twelve hours before Leo woke up, and after that he'd need quite a bit of food to get him back to a healthier weight and color - the ninja looked awfully pale and much skinnier than when Usagi had last laid eyes on him.

"How does one change so much in such a short amount of time?" the ronin mused quietly. It had been only eight or nine months since they'd parted, and while there had been some small amount of sadness in Leonardo's demeanor back then, he hadn't looked near this sickly.

He gazed across the room at the still form that lay in the bed and his frown turned into something deeper and sadder. "What happened to you, my young friend?"

* * *

Leonardo was sinking. An ocean of darkness surrounded him, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find the surface. His arms felt like lead and his heartbeat pounded in his ears. "Please," he gasped out, and salty tears flooded his cheeks. But it didn't matter. Nobody could hear him. Nobody cared.

He'd been struggling here for eons, it seemed, and he never made any forward progress - if anything, he was getting weaker and weaker, slipping further away.

And then, a light. It was dim, and hung far above him in the void, but even that small bit of illumination cut through the darkness enough that Leo could see his hand in front of his face. The tiniest bit of hope started to grow inside of him again and he pushed upwards with renewed vigor. It took forever, and by the time he reached that faint spark he was reaching the very edges of his limits, but then his hands closed gently around the light and he cupped it to his plastron, breathing in something like fresh air for the first time in years.

When he opened his eyes again, he was lying in bed in a familiar cabin, and there was a snow-white rabbit asleep against the opposite wall. A small smile flickered across Leo's face as he watched his friend sleep.

This cabin - this _place_ \- felt like home. And that was something Leonardo hadn't felt in a very long time.

* * *

 **A/N: I hope I did this part justice...I figured that if anyone could help Leo, it would be Usagi - I love that rabbit, haha. Wish they'd done a better job on him in 2k12, but...eh. I'll take what I can get, I guess - unless I'm writing him into my own story, in which case I'll try and get him as close to the 2k3 version as I can.**

 **I've already got chapter 7 partially completed, so it (hopefully) won't be too long until the next update for this book. In the meantime, what story would you guys like to see updated next? (I've also got a chapter going for "The Last Days," but my plot bunnies are a bit lazy for that one right now.)**

 **Thank you guys for the awesome support and encouragement!**

 **-Queen  
**


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